Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Paris 19
Hi all! Back from Germany just now. Eager to blog about it while the memories are fresh and share some experience with you guys. Germany gave me a very structured ‘engineering’ feel. Weather is cold. The buildings are clean and well-organized, and the service is mostly efficient. Not the best place to go for honeymoon though, as it is not the most romantic place and most of the places I visited are places of history. If you dash across the traffic light while it’s red, you’ll get fined 40 Euros if caught, likewise if you do not have a train ticket. Scary. I spent quite a lot on transportation and food.
Upon reaching Bonn, we met up with Magdelene who was a great host to us. She even prepared lunch for us on a day with her Polish friend. She’s having her internship with DHL in Germany now. Went for Kebab and tea which were good.
Es, can understand why you miss la-teh so much.
Then, Laura and I sat the overnight train to Berlin and spend a day there. The train ride was around 6 hours and it was very punctual. It reaches exactly on time and leaves in 2 minutes. If you missed it, it’s a waiting time of an hour. Laura and I made it, but we alighted at the wrong stop though. But in the end we made it to Berlin. Visited the Unter Den Liden and Alexandraplatz ( a shopping square), Bradenburg Gate, a church, Eastside Gallery, Jewish Museum, and Checkpoint Charlie.
On the train
The church
Bradenburg Gate. Looks like the one in Paris.
Simi Eastside Gallery?? Backstreet le?!
Weixin what are you doing on the Berlin Wall?
Muack.. This happened when East and West Germany united I believe, where the 2 men kissing are heads of their respective parties.
Lunch at Berlin: Curry Sausage, Cordon Bleu and Turkey Breast. Germans like Fries. We had loads of them. Need to start Detox session man.
At the Jewish Museum. I think this is a cool place to visit as this Museum is different from the rest. The audio guide is I-pod (quite cool to begin with) and the style is interactive, where it is not just reading and looking. Enough said. You guys should check it out yourselves.
Checkpoint Charlie
On day 2, we went back to Bonn and met up with Magdelene for a short trip to Cologne. Cologne is a more developed place than Bonn, and I was impressed with its shopping square, called the Schildegasse city shopping. Very comprehensive and lively place. Visited Kolner Dom which we climbed up 509 steps and got terribly exhausted, and also tried Kolsch (a local beer, it’s good) and Gluhwein.
Kolner Dom, like the one in Vienna, gothic design.
View from 509 steps.
Dinner, drinks and dessert with Mag at Cologne. Mostly pork and pizza.
Cola Kolsh and pipping hot Gluhwein. The heater at the back is damn power too. I like.
Ice cream desserts from the shop 4D recommended by Magdelene
Shopping square.
Massive train station Haupbanofts and massive trains
On day 3, which was a Sunday where everywhere is closed except museums, being typical Singaporeans Laura and I did not want to waste any time and went to check out the museum of German History which was all in German and we did not understand anything other then making out our own deductions from the photos. The museums in Germany are high-tech and wordy, hence not to my liking. I prefer less words, more photos and more audio guides. In the afternoon after lunch with Magdelene and her Polish friend, we went to Aachen together 2 hours by train. Checked out another Dome there which is famous and visited the Christmas night Market. Ate Champignons, sausages, chicken drumstick, cookies and drank Gluhwein. Shiok la. Lam if you come to Germany you confirm damn song. Sausages all around. They had sausages with curry sauce too. Laura enjoyed that place very much, so did Magdelene and I.
After seeing too much Doms, it can get quite boring actually.
Scenes from the Christmas night market
Me with the Drumstick and looking fat
I like this painting.
On the last day, Laura and I decided to visit the Rhine River and some Villas and Castle beside it. Woke up at 6 am but in the end couldn’t find anything except battling the cold. The sky was gloomy too and all sums up to a bad start as the website we got instructions from were poor. Oh well. We then spent the rest of the day exploring Bonn and some Christmas markets before making our way back. Read a book from Laura, ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ by Khaled Hosseini at the airport. He was the author of ‘Kite Runner’. The 2 stories are both great and sad.
Anyway shiok ah you all, got chalet. Haha. Hope your exams went well too. Take care and see you all.
Upon reaching Bonn, we met up with Magdelene who was a great host to us. She even prepared lunch for us on a day with her Polish friend. She’s having her internship with DHL in Germany now. Went for Kebab and tea which were good.
Es, can understand why you miss la-teh so much.
Then, Laura and I sat the overnight train to Berlin and spend a day there. The train ride was around 6 hours and it was very punctual. It reaches exactly on time and leaves in 2 minutes. If you missed it, it’s a waiting time of an hour. Laura and I made it, but we alighted at the wrong stop though. But in the end we made it to Berlin. Visited the Unter Den Liden and Alexandraplatz ( a shopping square), Bradenburg Gate, a church, Eastside Gallery, Jewish Museum, and Checkpoint Charlie.
On the train
The church
Bradenburg Gate. Looks like the one in Paris.
Simi Eastside Gallery?? Backstreet le?!
Weixin what are you doing on the Berlin Wall?
Muack.. This happened when East and West Germany united I believe, where the 2 men kissing are heads of their respective parties.
Lunch at Berlin: Curry Sausage, Cordon Bleu and Turkey Breast. Germans like Fries. We had loads of them. Need to start Detox session man.
At the Jewish Museum. I think this is a cool place to visit as this Museum is different from the rest. The audio guide is I-pod (quite cool to begin with) and the style is interactive, where it is not just reading and looking. Enough said. You guys should check it out yourselves.
Checkpoint Charlie
On day 2, we went back to Bonn and met up with Magdelene for a short trip to Cologne. Cologne is a more developed place than Bonn, and I was impressed with its shopping square, called the Schildegasse city shopping. Very comprehensive and lively place. Visited Kolner Dom which we climbed up 509 steps and got terribly exhausted, and also tried Kolsch (a local beer, it’s good) and Gluhwein.
Kolner Dom, like the one in Vienna, gothic design.
View from 509 steps.
Dinner, drinks and dessert with Mag at Cologne. Mostly pork and pizza.
Cola Kolsh and pipping hot Gluhwein. The heater at the back is damn power too. I like.
Ice cream desserts from the shop 4D recommended by Magdelene
Shopping square.
Massive train station Haupbanofts and massive trains
On day 3, which was a Sunday where everywhere is closed except museums, being typical Singaporeans Laura and I did not want to waste any time and went to check out the museum of German History which was all in German and we did not understand anything other then making out our own deductions from the photos. The museums in Germany are high-tech and wordy, hence not to my liking. I prefer less words, more photos and more audio guides. In the afternoon after lunch with Magdelene and her Polish friend, we went to Aachen together 2 hours by train. Checked out another Dome there which is famous and visited the Christmas night Market. Ate Champignons, sausages, chicken drumstick, cookies and drank Gluhwein. Shiok la. Lam if you come to Germany you confirm damn song. Sausages all around. They had sausages with curry sauce too. Laura enjoyed that place very much, so did Magdelene and I.
After seeing too much Doms, it can get quite boring actually.
Scenes from the Christmas night market
Me with the Drumstick and looking fat
I like this painting.
On the last day, Laura and I decided to visit the Rhine River and some Villas and Castle beside it. Woke up at 6 am but in the end couldn’t find anything except battling the cold. The sky was gloomy too and all sums up to a bad start as the website we got instructions from were poor. Oh well. We then spent the rest of the day exploring Bonn and some Christmas markets before making our way back. Read a book from Laura, ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ by Khaled Hosseini at the airport. He was the author of ‘Kite Runner’. The 2 stories are both great and sad.
Anyway shiok ah you all, got chalet. Haha. Hope your exams went well too. Take care and see you all.
# posted by eastsidebackstreet : 6:56 am
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